Mechanical lubricator for chains



D. B. PERRY MECHANICAL LUBRICAIOR FOR CHAINS Filed May 20, 1927ATTORNEY.

. in mills and factories. A

normally run at fairly high speeds, and it Patented Oct. .16, 1928.

UNITED iSTA-TEJS DAVID B. PERRY,F ITEACA, NEW YORK,

7 ITHACA,NEW YORK, A GORPORATIOITOF NEW YORK.

nssrenon T0 MORSE. CHAIN COMPAnTY, or

MECHANICAL LUBRICA'IOR ron CHAINS.

Application filed May 20,

This invention relatesto the lubrication of machinery, and'is especiallyapplicable'to the lubrication of power chains and similar powertransmission devices, such as are used Such power chains is notdesirable to run themdirectly in a bath of oil, owing to the drag. andpower loss. 7 WVhile no greatamount of. lubrication is required for apower chain under normal conditions, it is desirable that the "lubricantbe applied in such a way as to penetrate to the pins or joints where thewear occurs,

and this maybe done by periodically dropping oil on the chain while itis in operation.

It is often convenient to operate the lubricator from adjacentmachinery, and in some cases the motion is very slow; As only a smallamount of lubrication is required with a properly designed power chain,a slow motion would sufiice it itWeIfeYnOt for leale age in thelubricator mechanism, as sometimes occurs in pumping devices 7 One obect of my invention 18 toprovlde a mechanism which willpOSltiVBlyLlQllVBl.

measured quantities of on as desired, regard less of'how slowly it isoperated,and which willnot develop any tendencyto leak, thru wear orordinary errors of workmanship.

I Other objects are to eliminate valves, pistons, and similar partswhich might become leaky or clogged in operation; to make a device whichis easily'installed in the ordinary chain case, without piercing thecase below the oil level; to -make a durable, simple, and reliabledevice; and in general, to

ill

make a practical and effective lubricator for this class vo'lservice,and analogous applications. a

Referring part of this application,

now to the drawings forming Fig. 1 is a side elevationof a chainjcase.

showing the manner of applying the lubricator.

Fig. 2 is a transversecross-section thru the case substantiallylin theplane of the lubricating device. 4

Fig. 3 is a detail partly incross section of one form of lubricatorbucket. I

'Fig. 1 illustrates another typeofbucketi. Fig. is an end view of theform of bucket shown in Fig, 4;. i

Similar reference ilar parts thruout the-various views. j re )Vhile-thepresent invention may be apnumerals. refer to sim- 1927. "Serial No.192,958.

- that anyoil 5 which is thrown off the chain will drop back into thebottom ofpartQ,

which is utilized as an oil reservoir. (The level of the 011 n thisreservoir is prefer- -ably below the lowest point of the chain drive sothatpower will not be'wasted in splashing the 011 about unnecessarily,

Referring now to Fig. 2, a trough 6 hav ing an apertureTthru which oilmay drop. is mounted transversely in the" chain case Qbelow theupperfandlower strands of the chain. pOne end of the trough 6 may besecured directly to the side of the case "2, while the other end iscarried by a bracket PATENT I OFFICE.

6which straddles the rotating partsof the" mechanism- In orderto carryoil up from the reservoir and discharge it into this trough 6, lprovideone or more buckets 8 and8, carried'on a rotatable membertl, which iskeyedto the shaft 10. Any other equivalent form 'oi wheel'plump or.liquid,

elevator may be used, as for example the] spiral pump of Archimedes. Theshaft 10 may be rotatably moiintedin bearings; in any suitablemanner,.and for example it is shown. in "Fig. 2. journalle'd, in abearing the case Q'anda screw threaded portion 9 tending thru a hole in"the case to the out side on which is screwed a nut 12 so as to";clampit inplaee. A ratchet wheel 13 is secured to the shaftlO andisadapted to be driven by the pawl 1 1 attached to, the arnr 15. The. arm15 has a bearing ldwhich, is free to turn on the end ot the shaft 10andis held from longitudinal movement the nut 17. The arm 15 isusuallyconnectedvto any suitable portion of the adjacentmachin v cry inthe mill or factory wher'e the chain drive islocated, the connectionusually being thruan arm 18 which hasfla reciprocatingv motion. 1Theparticular form of connection 7 will 'vary of course in differentinstallations,

to e

v membenll, having. a flanged head within ill as will be obvious tothose skilled in the "art; In order to prevent the ratchet wheel 13-from turning too freely so that it will remain in place when the ratchetpawl 14c is being drawn backward to engage another tooth, the springwasher 20 issfitted between the nut 12 and the ratchet wheel 13.. Thisalso holds the bucket wheel 9 properly in place and prevents end playand lost m0- tion.

and the oil flows out the outlet 21 and down into the trough 6. Theoutlet 21 is made in the form of a short spout (as shown in Fig. '3)projecting from the bucket 8' so that the .oil will definitely drop fromthe spout 21 and not run back around the outside of the bucket Sand'drop oil at various other. points; also a hole 23 may be cut in thememberf9' back ol the spout 21 to. prevent the oil from being led overto the member 9 'by'capillary attraction and escaping down the face ofthe member 9 instead of dripping from the spout 21. The elevatingbuckets 8 and the rotating member 9 may be made in various forms as willbe obvious Q to those skilled in the art. For example,

in Fig. 4:, the member 9 instead of being the form oia disc is made inthe form "of a strip 9, to the ends of which are secured the buckets 8",which are in the form of cylinders closed at one end while the other'eridis flattened or crimped (as shown in Fig. 5), so, as to form aspout or mouth 21" from Which'the oil may drip. It is desirable thatwhatever spout or mouth is used on the elevating bucket, it should be soshaped that the oil will drop from it instead of running back on theoutside of the bucket. Another form of elevator 'onpump which may beused is the wvell-kn'own spiral pump'of Archimedes. The distinguishingfeature i fl the pumps or elevators is thatthey' haveno valves, theliquid is retained in them by gravity, and they will feed out defhi'i'teamounts of liquid as they are rotated/that is, they have no leakage andwill therefore pump regardless or how slow the motionoli'j rotation maybe. This gives them a reliability which makes them particularly suit-'able for the lubrication of machinery such as a drive chain where theamount of lubrication required is not large and the motion by which thelubricator is driven may in some cases be very slow.

While I have in the foregoing "described" certain preferred forms of myinvention,

it will be understood that these are merely by Way of illustration andthat the apparatus issusceptible to various modifications andadaptations as will be obvious to those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from following'claitns the scope of the invention as definedin the 1. In a mechanical lubricator for chain drives-the combination ofa case adapted to contain a chain drive, the lower portion of the caseformin an oil reservoir below the lower strand oi the chain drive, anoil conducting means extending transversely across the case between theupper and lower strands of the'chai'n drive, and arranged so that oilvfedto the conducting means may drop upon the lower strand of the chain,a

shaft passing thru a wall of the casefi'above the level of the'oilfin-the reservoir, means I for rotating said shaft, and meansrotated by said shaft foreleva-ti'ng oil from said reservoir up to aregion above said 'con'duct- I oil may flow tothe mechanism tobe'-lubri-- by gravity while being cate'd, revolvable means forelevatingthe'oil from the reservoir and'deliverin-g f it to the oilconducting means, the oil being retained in said re'volv'able means bygravity while being so elevated, a supporting means "straddling 'said'revolvable means and supporting one *end of "the oil conducting means,a rotatable shaft on which 'sai-d'revolvable means is mounted, a.ratchet on said shaft, an oscillating' driving member lor rotating saidratchet andfshait, whereby the revojlvabl'e means may bedrivento'elevate the oil.

3. In a mech'anical lubricator for chain drives, the "combination of acas'eadap'tedto icontaina chain drive, the lower portion of the caseforming an oil reservoir below the lowerstr'an'd oi the chain drive, anoil conducting means extending transversely across the case between theup er and lower strands of the chain drive and arranged so that oil fedto the conducting means may drop on the lower strand of the cha imsaidconductingmeans being supported from the two sides of the case, a shaftpassing thru a 'sideo'f the ca-Se above the level or the oil in thereservoir, a ratchet mounted on said shaft, OScllliltl Ilg meansfor"dr1ving said ratchet, and means rotated by said shaft for elevatlng011 from sald reservoir upv to a region above said conducting meansfsaidelevating means including a container which dips intothe oilofthereservoir, the oil being retained in said container by gravity whilebeing elevated.

contain a chain drive, the lower portion of the case forming an oilreservoir below the lower strand of the chain drive, an oil conductingmeans extending transversely across the case between the upper and lowerstrands of the chain driveand arranged so that oil fed to the conductingmeans may drop on the lower strand of the chain, said conducting meansbeing supported from the two sides of the case, a shaft passing thru aside of the case above the level of the oil in the reservoir, a ratchetmounted on said shaft,

oscillating means for driving said ratchet,

and means rotated bysaid shaft for elevating oil from said reservolr upto a region above the conducting means from which the oil may fiowdownto sald eonductmg means,

said elevatingmeans including a container which dips into the 011 ofthe'reservointhe oil being retained in said container by gravity whilebeing elevated, said container having a spout-projecting a sufficientdistance so that the oil will definitely drop from the spout when thecontainer is being emptied.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed-my name this 16th day ofMay, 1927. DAVID B. PERRY.

